E-HRM Technology for Human Resource Development Issues - Essay Example

Human Resource Development Introduction Strohmeier (2007) defined E-HRM as the method of planning and implementation of information technology for the optimum performance of HR activities. It makes proper use of web, voice and conventional technologies to upgrade various HR administration, transactions and performance. Parry et al (2007) believe that E-HRM essentially decentralizes various HR functions, which allows managers and employees to strengthen the HR functions through accessing channels of web-technology or intranet. This essay is to analyze E-HRM matter in modern company. The purpose will be first studied via operational, rational and transformational angles. Next, it will be presumed the possible effectiveness and ineffectiveness of E-HRM and finally, the details of appropriateness and inappropriateness of practical E-HRM will be stated. E-HRM technology for Human Resource Development issues Reul et al. (2004) presume that the essence of E-HRM technology lies with the implementation of E-HRM technology in accordance with the requirements of the organization’s HR business. The purpose of E-HRM can be defined from three perspectives like operational E-HRM, relational E-HRM and transformational E-HRM. Operational E-HRM more specifically relates to functional administrations. In this genre, E-HRM is generally used to do stuff like payrolls which are personal data of employees. For example, today many Australian companies implement Affinity Payroll System, which is convenient for most complicated pay conditions and assimilates wizards and workflow to eliminate manual input. It ensures accuracy and saves time thus helping Australian companies to achieve controllable targets. It also decreases related stress, paperwork and rework. Besides, E-HRM technology supports the relational HRM work like performance, appraisal, recruitment and training. Australian Human Resource Institute extensively utilizes e-training and e-learning foundations to prepare employees for maximum business activities. Instead of the regular functioning of human resource department, intranet can be used to implement training and skill learning techniques. Meanwhile, transformational E-HRM strategically manages the transactional activities of HR. With proper development of E-HRM technology, it can be used as a platform to bring about transformational change to enhance the operational functions of HR in business transactions (Foster, 2009). In the future, E-tech can improve HR decision support and distributions transactions of a new business transaction program of Qantas to attain the planned growth and maintain sustainability and profit in the increasing competitive operating system (Qantas Annual Report, 2010). Thus, it can be assumed that E-HRM can benefit organizations by making them powerful and successful. Effectiveness Analysis of E-HRM practices The effectiveness of E-HRM is often measured by the performance and productivity of the organizations (Wright et al., 2001). By utilizing E-HRM it is possible to get the following benefits. Firstly, E-HRM enhances the effectiveness by ensuring more profits. It is without any doubt that technology can improve productivity. Right use of E-tech and myriad e-tools can motivate the activities in HRM in workplace with monetary incentives. There can be manpower loss during production for various reasons like accidents, job rotations, absenteeism and labour deficiency. This can be solved and will increase the sales percentage thereby increasing per person or per employee output. This can result in significant growth of profit as effectiveness in productivity will enhance. Secondly, it results in developing effectiveness through increasing the service level of HR. Line managers can take advantage of e-technology and intranet to assess employee costs, perform appraisals, manage training requests, produce HR reports (turnover, absenteeism) and competently supervise efficiency under less time. Various activities like recruitments and retirement of employees, managing personal information of employees belonging to different categories, settlement of conflicts in industries, salary administration, maintenance of office and machinery can be done through intranet without the requirement of personally visiting each site. Consequently, it increases the strategy making efficiency of the HR department. Nowadays, HR departments are increasingly gaining importance in Australian companies. This department is no longer accepted ignored as redundant. Now, HR departments are recognized as source of important decision making process that help to reorganize the company structure (Broderick & Boudreau, 1992). However, from some viewpoints it is not profitable to develop E-HRM. Firstly, it will add to the cost. Cost has the tendency to be in proportion to the size and type of organizations (Shilpa & Gopal, 2011). There will be definitely an increase of cost structure if new e-technologies like electronic equipments and information systems are used. Because of increased cost and lack of funds for further investments and promotions, HR activities in companies may become ineffective in the areas of monetary incentives, compensations or welfare provisions. Also, the less use of human touch can result in poor work performance. With the increase in use of intranet and other information systems, the human touch in HR departments will no longer be available. HR work needs participation of people through communication, and as such effectiveness will decrease as face-to-face interaction will become outmoded. Moreover, there is also the possibility that the E-HRM systems may not be compatible with other software, and this will result in more ineffectiveness. It may so happen that the advanced electronic HR management system may not be assimilated into other functional chains like transportations, promotions and production systems. Under this condition, there will be incompatibility which will cause ineffectiveness. Appropriateness Analysis of E-HRM Practices It is speculated that with the rapidly growing use of electronic resources in HRM practices and the increase of HRM importance in business culture, the appropriateness will possible become more obvious, while the inappropriateness will also tend to be evident to a significant degree. Some practices in E-HRM are appropriate. First and most important is that handling numerous data is an appropriate E-HRM practice. Data mining tools are useful for using regressions and other methods to process and analyse data. Such electronic software and systems can replace the manual work of HR department which in turn can eliminate errors and rework and enhances efficiency. Then there can be e-statement which in the form of reports and online information is another appropriate method for stakeholders to assess employee compensation, health insurance and other welfare plans in time. Statements displayed on the web play a major role for increasing the awareness regarding benefits of employees. Thirdly, e-recruitment and e-retirement is appropriate. Aspiring candidates from all over the world can get information about recruitment from the internet. Macquarie Bank selects talented Chinese candidates through online job-site choosing, multi-site resume harvesting and phenomenal geographical reaching, thus decreasing lead time and increasing candidate pool. Australian AMP Co. provides an online pension database for e-retirement facilities which can guide the employees to assess their pension and superannuation value for future benefits. This can be done through an easy process of navigation on web site. Lastly, there are emails and intranets for rapid transference of message by maintaining privacy considering personal differences. It also facilitates uninterrupted communication of frontline workers, line managers and other top executives without hindrances. These are all appropriate E-HRM practices (Shilpa & Gopal, 2011). However, it must also be considered that all practices of E-HRM are not appropriate by any means. Firstly, e-tech provides a wide selection of media types which are used by non-HR department employees and managers for sending and receiving information. This freedom among employees is not an appropriate practice as it increases difficulty for the HR department to maintain control over the management of individual employees. Centralized controlling power will be disturbed and this will weaken the managing power of the HR department resulting in reduced functional efficiency. Also, there will be a loss in consistency and standardized working style. The works of HR department like supervision and auditing may be hampered and it may be difficult to maintain efficiency with modification of working methods and flexibility on working tools. Another matter of concern is that employment offices become more dependant on paperless methods like intranet and electronic database, which is likely to be attacked, destroyed or stolen by Hackers and diversified network virus. Till date there have been no completely fruitful methods to prevent the outsiders from accessing the internal HR system and database. When there are so many obstacles, there is a possibility that the entire structure of HR business may prove to be a failure. Motivation analysis for E-HRM issues With the goal of enhancing productivity and to establish a more operative remuneration system, the administrators of E-HRM can adopt data such as sales volumes, standardized performance into a basic structure of salary payment. Although this method can instil a sense of valuable motivation among the salespeople to ulitize their maximum potential for better contribution and afford a level of trust, the reactions towards this technological system could differ and effects brought by this policy could be diversified. What currently motivates salespersons is likely to be the performance appraisals. This appraisal on behalf of managers and supervisors records information to evaluate the current position of an employee like his success, failures, weakness or strengths. The motivation system electrical records currently adopted will connect with monetary rewards or with performance appraisal, thus imposing employees to enhance their performance so that they can become eligible for promotion or they can avoid from getting fired. Fortunately, this method could increase productivity through increase motivation. Besides, with concrete data show the realistic performance, salespeople with high sales volume obtain more money. So enhance motivation and performance of salespeople to realize a productive, efficient and effective operation (Jones, 2009). Therefore, one potential reaction tends to be more cheerful, especially for those who are capable of making high sales. They are happy because they could get more pay checks, a greater incentive. However, for those who always sell nothing, they are likely to be sad as they could get less or even go hungry with reduced remuneration than before. The process of E-HRM allows the corporate to appraise and constantly develop individual subsidiary performance, against precisely characterized, pre-set goals and targets (Shen & Darby, 2006). The confidence level of employees will diminish if there is no such system to encourage them and correctly guide them. Also in the absence of such system the employees cannot present in clear and correct terms the results of their performance, growth of local team, communication, decision making, personal development and application of new talent. Moreover, without proper motivation of promotions and rewarding the morale of employees will be low as they will not be motivated to give their best performance as they will feel no hope for getting compensation for their sincerity. Besides the electronic records of employee performance that are always linked to reward system are strongly positioned based on the performance level of an individual to boost the morale of the employees and provide them appropriate incentives in their short and long term careers. If there is particular reference of rewards and other benefits according to their competence, then there will be increased morale and improved productivity. With this the employees will comprehend that their incentives depend on the success of the corporate and the corporate success depends on their ability to contribute towards attaining the goals and strategies of the corporate. Based on the values and beliefs of the corporate and drawn from corporate strategy, the morale of employees is induced by the requirements of the business and rewards for performance that achieve the company goals. Therefore, the employees’ morale will suffer if there is no suitable reward policies to encourage, motivate, and preserve staff. Without such policies the employees cannot hold expectations for opportunities for advancement in their career financial status (Hamblin, 1974). However, with more employees with poor records being fired, companies could suffer from talents deficiency and talents loss. This problem has already appeared with more and more customer complaints to the poor service quality. Besides, the health problems associated with high pressure associated with strict performance appraisals also weakens the employees to perform well, through impairs employees’ health conditions. Ethical analysis for E-HRM issues Nowadays, with the wide usage of online technology, ethics of the HR staffs especially sales people could be compromised in checking employees’ performance. One issue of the ethical problems is the online privacy violation. HR monitor staffs have become increasingly skilled at collecting and analysing detailed staff’s performance information through online tracking system. Cookies are a good example widely used nowadays (Solomon, Marshall and  Stuart, 2011). Staffs who participate in various website activities leave extensive personal information unconsciously. HR staffs people always use online tracking tools such as cookies to track whatever employee behaviours. This could be a serious ethical problem for HR staffs in that employees’ privacy is likely to be violated. Involving in ethical problem could bring companies negative news and reports, following by swallowing accusations and complaints. Therefore, negative images are likely to be set up and poor staff relationships tend to be established. The economic loss result from such two aspects could be considerably more than the economic gains bought by E-HRM. Employees may get angry on the improper ethical issues that control the employment relationship and that form and implement HR monitors. Without any proper relations of employees and their unions, employers and their associations, and governments and industrial tribunals, employees may display poor performance as there will be dearth of joint enterprise bargaining between an employer (or enterprise) and employees (or their representatives) to determine terms and conditions of employment. Employees may also have poor performance when doubtful industrial relationship hinders enterprise agreements between an employer and employees, in relation to awards as such agreements are crucial instruments to regulate employment conditions (Moran, 1999). Furthermore there are complexities and questions related to this. They involve what should be done if there is adverse atmosphere in workplace, which can be spread to other colleagues. There is another problem which involved negligence to rebuild good atmosphere, indicating that enforcement of E-HRM is at the highest because it encourages employees to focus on themselves which disrupts the team spirit. Conclusion To recap, E-HRM plays an important and complicated role in the development of an organization. HRM technology undoubtedly paves the way for enhanced efficiency of operational work and flexibility of relational HRM work, and improves all kinds of transactional and process work. The effectiveness outperforms the existing ineffectiveness as it leads to growth in productivity, service level and strategic arrangements. Also, the current practices in HRM indicate that the appropriateness outweighs the inappropriateness, because the effectiveness brings more advantages in data mining, e-statement, e-recruitment, e-retirement and online message transfer. 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